Free entry to national parks, forests, refuges this weekend

A visitor looks out on the mountains of Olympic National Park from the park’s Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center. (photo by Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times, 2013)

Celebrate this Presidents Day weekend, Saturday through Monday, Feb. 15-17, with a free visit to a national park, national forest or wildlife refuge.

All three days are included as fee-free days for 2014 for parks, museums, trails and other facilities operated by the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service. In Washington, that includes Mount Rainier and Olympic national parks, which normally charge $15 per vehicle, plus Mount Baker-Snoqualmie, Okanogan-Wenatchee, Olympic and Gifford Pinchot national forests, among others, where trailheads and other recreation sites that normally require a Northwest Forest Pass will be free of charge.

About Us

Kristin Jackson, travel editor at The Seattle Times, grew up in Italy, went to university in Britain, and worked as a journalist in London and Vancouver, B.C., before migrating back to Seattle where she’s happy at her desk but way happier on the road.

Brian J. Cantwell, Outdoors editor at The Seattle Times, is a Seattle native who chose not to leave -- except for every chance he gets to go someplace interesting or adventurous. He lives on his sailboat at Shilshole Bay Marina.